There's only one thing wrong with Lyon - there's
nothing to grumble about!

The wine shop proprietor made a sheepish apology for the quality of his
Beaujolais Nouveau. 'Please try it. It's not as bad as the others,' he said.
It's hard to imagine that happening in Britain.

Suddenly it seemed a
sensible move to have left our character EdReardon back home in Berkhamsted as he would have found
remarkably little to complain about in Lyon, apart from having to queue for a
working ticket machine to get on to the metro - a let-down after arriving via
high-speed TGV at Part-Dieu station.

Heavenly sights: The Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere overlooking the streets of Vieux Lyon

But a glance at the map of Lyon's
wellintegrated transport system would have directed Ed towards a tram, the other main way of getting around
this handsome city flanked by not one but two major rivers, the Rhone and the
Saone (the names rhyme).

The Grand Hotel de la Paix where we stayed in
the centre of town is perfectly placed and perfectly well-appointed, despite the
slightly antiseptic feel of the breakfast room which gave the impression that
guests were being encouraged to get it over with and get out there doing
stuff.

And there's no shortage of that in Lyon - a five-minute walk down
the Rue du President Edouard Herriot brings you to Place Bellecour (you can't
miss it, there's a big wheel) and the tourist office.

Professional moaner: Christopher Douglas as Ed Reardon and, right, men roll barrels of Beaujolais Nouveau wine in the center of Lyon

There you can buy a
two-day Lyon City Card for €31 (about £25) that covers all public transport,
guided tours, cruises and admission to museums and galleries. And here's an
Ed-style tip to save a few euros: enter the Musee
des Beaux Arts in the Place des Terreaux, five minutes in the other direction
from the hotel, via the Antiquities section on the first floor and you bypass
the main entrance.

There's almost as much Egyptian, Greek and Roman booty
here as in the British Museum and it's rather better displayed. On the floor
above, the museum's collection of paintings from Breugel to Bacon runs the
entire length of the magnificently baroque Place des Terreaux. There's also an
elegant cafe/ restaurant.

Opposite the entrance to the museum is the
centrepiece of the Place des Terreaux: a sculpture by Bartholdi, who designed
the Statue of Liberty. It depicts a naked woman (France) controlling her
country's four main rivers, represented by minibus-sized horses wearing seaweed
bridles and reins.

The city of Bordeaux commissioned it originally but as
the scale of the thing grew, they ran out of money and space, so Lyon stepped
in. This year the city had the sculpture restored - all 21 tons of it - to its
1888 glory.

Historic hands: The Theatre La maison de Guignol (puppet theatre) in the old town

Lyon is almost as pedestrian-friendly as it must have been
when the Romans built it 2,000 years ago, and there's historical or
architectural interest round every eccentrically angled corner.

Running
like a silken thread through the older parts of town is the network of covered
walkways and courtyards known as the Traboules, used by the medieval silk
industry to protect its precious product from the rain, of which in the winter
there can be a good deal.

City maps will guide you through the traboules
and up the cobbled alleyways of Vieux (Old) Lyon.

The city could have
been designed for wandering - and the Croix Rousse area which rises steeply to
the north of the city centre is particularly rewarding.

This is the hip
part of town, with cool, independent shops and galleries. And don't worry about
getting footsore - Lyon has scores of enticing little bars and restaurants Our
arrival on the third Thursday in November coincided with that of the 2013
Beaujolais Nouveau damned with faint praise by the man in the wine shop. But it
seemed ungracious to grumble when it was being handed out free in beakers
outside practically every bistro in Vieux Lyon.

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When it comes to eating, it's
very hard to get a bad meal in what claims to be the gastronomic capital of
Europe, but Lyon's a place where they consume pretty much anything that moves,
so it's as well to know what you're ordering: it's easy to find a hearty helping
of tripe placed in front of you when you think you've asked for a
sausage.

Menus in English are widely available so no one should feel put
off, and for those, like Ed, with
uncompromisingly carnivorous tastes, it's close to paradise. Small traditional
Lyonnais restaurants are known as 'bouchons' and generally offer reasonably
priced food of a very high quality.

Festive fun: The illuminated wheel at Place Bellecour

Travelling further afield is easy and
quick on the metro, trams and buses. From Perrache station, with its plaque
commemorating the hundreds of Jews and resistance fighters who in 1944 were
herded on to trains bound for Ravensbruck and Auschwitz, we went to the
Resistance Museum.

Housed in the former Gestapo HQ on the Avenue
Berthelot, it impressively records the activities of the secret army in this
part of France during the Second World War.

There are re-creations of
wartime domestic interiors and, rather more shocking, a staircase restored to
its 1940s state with grey, rough-cast walls and names scratched by suspects on
their way to interrogation and torture by Klaus Barbie, the notorious 'Butcher
of Lyon'.

A ride up the funicular railway will take you to the Basilica
of Notre Dame de Fourviere, an imposing sight on the Lyon skyline but even more
impressive close up, and home to exhibitions of religious art and baroque
concerts.

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We, however, had other cultural plans for Saturday night and
Metro Line B (there are four, A to D) took us to the Stade de Gerland and the
Ligue 1 football match between Olympique Lyonnais and Valenciennes
FC.

The Lyonnais supporters numbered more than 30,000 and the diehards in
the OL Kop end included a team of well-drilled drummers while the chants were
led by a conductor perched on the fence.

As a piece of musical theatre
alone, it was a very good €30 worth with cash left over for a late supper of
onion soup and jambon cru at Brasserie Nord in Rue Neuve.

Too soon the
TGV was entering Part-Dieu station en route to Lille. We'd chosen that way home
as an easier Eurostar option, avoiding crossing Paris. The only slight drawback
is that this way stops at the station for Euro Disney, meaning the train fills
up with families clutching Mickey Mouse helium balloons.

At least it
would finally have given EdReardon something to growl about ... sorry, about which
to growl.